Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Was sifting through Gardening, looking for info on plants & flowers safe for chickens, because they were munching on daylily leaves yesterday.
Found this: What can I grow for the chickens?.
The only info I found in my printed stash was for nesting boxes, so I guess those would be safe for hens to eat if they choose.
In their nesting boxes, I have put lavender, lemon balm, lemon verbena, thyme, anise hyssop, borage, sage, a tiny bit of wormwood, yarrow, and mostly mint (not all of these at once)
This year, I am going to plant calendula, nasturtiums around the chicken enclosure, and lupins, & chamomile in the flower garden. There are some monarda in the garden already, and they'll get some of those too, if they grow well enough.
How does that sound?

Sounds great if you don't have picky chickees!

I tried putting mint and lemon balm (separately) in their nesting box, but they gave me dirty looks. Marigold flowers? No thank you . My hopes for dark yellow egg yolks were dashed!

This may sound totally nuts, but I am currently raising Italian Dandelion seedlings under the grow lights for my babies. Apparently, it's a misnomer because it's really Chicory, but it has really BIG leaves. I hope they like it.

Meanwhile, they have trained me to pick Dandelion leaves from the lawn every time I pass by. Right now it's really easy because we have zillions of them and the leaves are small and clumpy - easy to pick :).

Linda

Ha! Ha! Yes I have dandelions and the chickens love them. They also love the geranium flower buds, my geraniums look great nice and compact and green with lots of buds on them. Next day buds all gone, they are also the ones keeping them compact, didn't realize it till I watched them pruning them and eating the buds. Little monsters!

Mine love Day lilies and will eat them to the ground every summer, unless they are behind a fence.

Ontario Chick wrote: ↑

Wed May 09, 2018 7:16 pm

Mine love Day lilies and will eat them to the ground every summer, unless they are behind a fence.

Really! So far mine haven't touched them.

Feeding them alfalfa will make your yolks darker. I give mine fresh alfalfa all summer.

Shnookie wrote: ↑

Thu May 10, 2018 11:52 am

Feeding them alfalfa will make your yolks darker. I give mine fresh alfalfa all summer.

How do you feed it to them? Do you sprout the seed yourself, or is a field seeded with it?